Black Sails: Zach McGowan on Season 3, Vane's Relationship with Blackbeard and More

Zach McGowan is quite a presence on TV these days. The actor can currently be seen in Season 3 of Starz’ Black Sails, as his character, Charles Vane, finds himself wanted dead or alive, and back in contact with his old mentor – Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard (Ray Stevenson).

In addition, McGowan has a recurring role on the CW’s The 100 this year, as Roan – who just had one hell of a fight scene in this week’s episode.

I recently sat down with McGowan to talk about how things have changed for Vane on Black Sails, the importance of characters like Jack Rackham and Blackbeard to him and more.

We also chatted a bit about The 100 and that aforementioned fight scene he had with Lexa this past week (you may have seen some of these quotes in an earlier piece about that fight specifically).

Zach McGowan as Charles Vane in Black Sails.

IGN: What’s it like for Vane to see Rackham in such an elevated position now, given where they began?

McGowan: I think Vane is immensely proud of Rackham for pulling it off. It’s like as actors when your buddy books some giant, Marvel Universe something and you’re like “Dude, f**k yeah! You’re playing this guy. I mean I wanted to play him too, but awesome!” [Laughs] It’s a little of that. And even though there’s always been this Jack and Charles fight a lot [thing], Vane is this guy who doesn't necessarily have a family and didn’t grow up very traditionally. Jack is the closest thing to a brother he’s ever had. Vane was the athlete and Jack was the thespian and they’ve got this interesting relationship. Vane has a lot of respect for Jack. He also think Jack’s crazy and gets angry at Jack. They have a very complex relationship.

I think if they didn’t have the history they had then the beginning of Season 3, where they had that set up, it wouldn’t have worked. It wasn’t like Jack had supremacy over the island. When Jack came back with the gold and made everyone aware of it, it could have turned into a war and fighting for the gold but when everyone saw it, they realized how big it was and how hard it was to move and the logistics of trying to secure a treasure of that size, everyone came to the realization of, “Alright, you got this. Now we need a fort to protect it in. And is that really protection? Are they coming and when they come are they going to take this back? What are we going to do? Are we going to fight for it? Are we going to fight for the land, the gold, and these ideas that we’ve come up with? Or are we going to try to steal it from one another?" They’ve come to a heightened realization about it when you meet them.

IGN: Right, because you picked up with some time passing between the seasons.

McGowan: We talked about it a lot amongst the cast. The period you don’t see between Season 2 and Season 3 was a crazy period. Imagine that. Jack comes back with the gold. Flint is there. Flint and Vane have come to some sort of agreement. And I realize the only thing that must have kept Jack with the gold is that Vane was probably like, “We can’t just take it from him. It’s his.” Their relationship became very key in showing how that worked out. Why did Rackham move into the governor's mansion? That was all out of the respect and pride of Charles going, “While I was off trying to get this guy and get this ship and doing all that in Charlestown, you were off taking the prize we’ve all been scrambling for for so long. Good on you buddy. Well done. How bad was the fight? How many guys were there?” It was that. It’s a true budding of how a democracy begins. People are at odds with each other and somehow you get inside of a big tent and figure it out.

McGowan: He’s definitely as close to a father as Vane has ever had. The Vane we have presented is a guy who doesn’t have a traditional upbringing or family of any kind. And while Eleanor is the woman he loves, she’s also the closest thing to a mother he’s ever had, funnily, in his life. And definitely Blackbeard is the closest thing to a father he’s ever had, a well as being a mentor. And how does he feel about it? He’s conflicted. it’s almost like when you grow up with a family and then go off to college and you get introduced to other ideas and you go back and try to bring those to your father and maybe he likes them or maybe he’s like “Oh come on, that bulls**t.” That’s a lot of what Vane’s going through.

I feel like the relationship they had in the past, it would be very hard for Vane to explain to his father figure why he would risk his life and everything to go save Flint. That doesn’t gel with the person he was taught to be by his mentor. Now he believes that he has bought into something bigger than himself. I think Season 3 is him questioning whether that is the right choice or not and trying to decide whether he should live for the moment or himself and be all he can be and make the greatest legend for himself as possible or whether that ties into anything greater. I think that’s something we all look for in life. As an actor, am I just living for myself or is there something greater that I’m instilling upon society or my community or my people? That’s really the journey for Vane in Season 3. “Now that I’ve done that and bought into something bigger than myself, is that the right choice? Is that really what I want to do?”

Continue to Page 2 as McGowan discusses Vane’s thoughts on slavery and what it’s been like joining The 100 this season.